Cold Blooded

Two Weeks

Saya faded in and out of consciousness because of the bag limiting most, but not all airflow. She knew that the ride back to the towers was only a few hours, but it felt like it took years. As they rumbled along, Saya managed to catch bits of conversations through the coarse material of the sack.

"I can't believe that we ran all over the country looking for some monstrous experiment only for it to have been staying in a harbinger house." Some agent muttered to his comrade.

"Honestly," Someone else joined in. "The cold in this place is enough to kill a person. I miss my assignment time in Mondstadt. It was so much warmer around there."

"Really? You clearly didn't spend any time on dragonspine then. Now, that was cold. Not to mention all the freaking monster boars"

"Oh, I'm sure it was." The other one laughed. "Those boars must have been real tough. How ever did you survive?"

"Well, ha ha," the man Saya had just named Boar said sarcastically. "Let's see how you do against something three times your size."

"I'd take that any day over this," The one Saya decided to call Doubter said, smacking the side of the wagon. "That blue haired one in there is said to be a real piece of work."

"A bigger piece of work than you?" Boar laughed. "I'd like to see that in action."

Doubter and Boar continued chatting and whispering until Saya fell back into unconsciousness, but she awoke again not long later.

"I'm very proud of you, my boy," Pulcinella said as he patted someone on the back. "I know that this particular mission had a lot of emotions involved for you and that you prefer just fighting instead of tricking people, so I am very proud."

"Yeah," the man that Saya currency refused to even think about responded. "I- It's all for the greater glory of the Tsaritsa, right?"

"Of course." Pulcinella said with a hint of pride in his voice. "That monster will be very helpful for the Tsaritsa's plan."

"He's not a monster." the other man muttered.

"What was that?" Pulcinella asked with something sinister in his voice. Saya could practically see him lean closer to Aj- the-man-who-will-not-be-named.

"Nothing, sir."
"Just as I thought." Pulcinella said with a clap of his hands. "You know, now that..."

Pulcinella continued on as his companion remained uncharacteristically quiet. Saya tried to listen, but slowly everything blurred away.

"Yin!" a small boy's voice cried. A shiver slid down Saya's spine.

The bag was yanked off her head and Saya hissed as the bright lights blinded her. She was being dragged away, but as her eyes adjusted she saw Chongyun and Three. Chongyun lay asleep, but pain was written all over his face. He twitched and grunted as Three stared at him through the bars like a boy at the zoo.

Disgust welled up inside Saya, but she was dragged out of view before she could see anything else.

Two weeks had passed since then. Saya had been left in a small metal room with only a ratted cot and a single meal delivered a day. No one came in to speak to her and no one came in to hurt her. She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or terrified.

Two weeks had passed and everything was silent, most of the time. Saya wasn't sure where she was in these cursed towers, but she knew that Chongyun was on the other side of the wall. She could hear him scream. Every. Single. Day. He howled in pain, but he wasn't the only one screaming. Every few days, someone was brought in. Some screamed, some cried, some pleaded desperately. Their screams always ended rather quickly.

Two weeks of screams and fears had passed, then something changed. Two men entered Saya's room and she shakily rose to her feet. She had nothing on her to use as a weapon. All she had were the clothes on her back, the compass in her pocket, and the map tied to her side.

The men leaped at Saya faster than she could react and had her hands and feet bound in chains. They pulled her out into the hallway and opened the door that Saya knew would lead to Chongyun. It had been a few days since she had heard someone else's screams. Today, she would be the one crying and screaming.

The walls and floors were practically painted with blood. Someone had clearly tried to clean it off, but all the soap in the world couldn't clean away the horrors that had happened in this room.

"Look, Yin." Three sat on a walkway high above the floor of Chongyun's cell. "I brought you a new plaything. I hope you have lots of fun with her."

Chongyun turned towards Saya with hunger in his eyes. He was even bigger than the last time she had seen him. He was easily larger than any monster Saya had faced before and his claws looked far longer and much sharper than before.

Saya took a step back, but tripped on her chains and fell to the floor. Chongyun came towards her, but not in a run as she had imagined. He walked towards her slowly and stared her right in the eye. His eyes were also different from last time. The Something had let go of control and was simply waiting in the back. Chongyun's eyes looked like those of an animal. Glassy, empty and entirely inhuman.

"Chongyun, please," Saya's voice cracked and she cursed her own weakness. "Please, it's me. It's Hisaya. Remember those nights on the Karlin with only the stars above us and the sea around us. Remember when you saved me in Inazuma. Please, Chongyun. Remember. It was me, Gisei, and you. Fight for yourself and take back control. We'll help you. We can go and find Gisei, and- and the three of us can help you."

"Aw, how cute." Three swung his legs from high above. He was grinning like a kid during the Sakura Festival. This was exactly what he wanted.

Chongyun never took his eyes off Saya, but his mouth had fallen and something like confusion had contorted his features. He was so close to Saya, she could hear his heavy breaths. He cocked his head to the side and sat down slowly. He crossed his legs in front of him and stared at Saya.

Fear and hope laced their fingers around Saya's heart and began to fight for control. Shaking, Saya slowly reached up towards Chongyun. She brushed her fingers against his cheek and he slowly leaned into her touch.

A smile like the ones Chongyun made when he was truly happy slid onto the beast's face. He stood up and picked up Saya. He carried her as if she was as light as air and with much more delicacy than he appeared to be capable of. He set her down upon a small pile of random things in a corner of the room that was miraculously free of any blood. He sat down beside her and looked at her with those strange animal eyes.

"Fascinating," Three muttered from his perch high above. "You seem to be one of the few things that he wants to protect. Look beneath you. Those are all of Yin's little treasures that he has kept with him since he came here the first time. A random collection of items, but apparently his protection has now spread to those that he cares for."

Saya looked down at the pile of objects. A pair of too small boots, a bag of mora that had a dark blue embroidery at the lip of the bag, the claymore that Chongun had taken from Ma's house, and other random things.

Saya looked back up towards Three, but the small boy was gone. It was just Saya and a boy she had known that was now a monster, but a monster that wanted to protect her.

"Oh, archons, what am I even doing?" Saya muttered to no one as Chongyun fell asleep atop his pile of treasures. She looked around at the bloodied wall of the room and then back towards Chongyun. She almost fell off the pile when she saw what had happened to Chongyun.

The monster had left him once he had closed his eyes and fallen asleep, and he had shrunken back down. Except, he had shrunk too much. In Chongyun's place was a boy curled in on himself. It was the same ice blue hair and light skin, but now he looked no older than nineteen. He should have been at least twenty two, just as he was two weeks ago.

What happened to you in those two weeks?